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First Attempt At A Rain Team

Hello smogon forums. I have decided to go beyond my realm of team building and run my very first Rain team. I am pretty sure it is going to have some flaws considering the aforementioned fact, but I hope to use some constructive criticism. I honestly don't know what to look for, because whenever I test my teams, even after doing so, I could never figure out what changes I should make. With that being said, I hope you guys will help me out with my uncharted territory of weather teams. Anyway, enough of the introduction, here's my team!

Team Building Process

Spoiler:- spoiler:

First, a good Pokemon to start a rain team with is Tornadus-T.
It can plow through whole teams with the proper support,
which my five other members plan on doing.

Now, its most powerful attack is 100% accurate under rain.
The only partner that helps with that is Politoed. I decided to use Specstoed

Both Politoed and Tornadus-T are zapped into oblivion by the many electric types, such as
Thundurus-T, Jolteon, Rotom-W, etc, so I needed a Pokemon that can take these threats out.
A Thundurus-T of my own would help as it only fears Specs Rotom-W, so I decided to go with
it.

Torn-T and Thundurus-T are both weak to Stealth Rock, so a Rapid Spinner was a must. I decided
to use Starmie for the job because, although it adds an Electric weakness, I already have
Thundurus-T to absorb electric attacks and Politoed is specially bulky enough to survive
unboosted ones. To not hamper on the offensive presence I have on this team, I decided to use
the Standard Starmie.

I lacked Stealth Rock and a Pokemon that has both offensive presence and the ability to set
SR up is just what I wanted to use. I also needed a
Dragon type resist, so in came Metagross, fitting the bill quite nicely.

I lacked a revenge killer and a Pokemon to help me clean up late-game. Scarfkion allows me
to deal with Volcarona, who could hurt me outside of rain.

After a few tests from suggestions by you guys, I agree with Mosquiton that I am pretty weak to Mamoswine and I can't really handle Tornadus-T without sacrificing a Pokemon. To counter that weakness, I replaced Metagross with Bronzong. It has about the same physical bulk as Metagross (if not better) but a lot better SpD to take hits from Tornadus-T without being KOed easily.

Ah, the source of eternal rain, here to bless my Pokemon with its presence. I decided to go with SpecsToed for more offensive prowess. Hydro Pump is the STAB of choice, as I'd much rather KO an opponent's Pokemon than regret having Surf not finish the job. The 80% accuracy doesn't bother me. Anyway, it is insane in the rain. To show you how much power Hydro Pump has, in a sandstorm against support Tyranitar, it does an insane 59.9% - 71.29%, a guaranteed 2HKO. Focus Blast is a more reliable means of handling most Tyranitar, who is OHKOed. Support Tyranitar has a small chance of being OHKOed with SR up. Ice Beam helps against most OU dragons, who are OHKOed (only the bulkiest Dragonites survive, but take over half damage after SR damage). Hidden Power Grass does a number on Gastrodon. With the suggestion by Mosquiton, I switched the Speed and HP EVs around. With 252 Spe, I outspeed and deal with Breloom, CBNite, Scizor and Mamoswine.I am debating whether or not to use Surf instead of HP Grass, for reliability against weakened foes. Any ideas?

Meet the main rain sweeper of my team. This thing is a beast under the rain. Hurricane is mainly STAB, which hurts a majority of the metagame, even some things that resist it. I chose Superpower over Focus Blast because my whole team is pretty lacking in the physical department and I want to hurt Blissey harder so it doesn't wall me. U-Turn has great synergy with Regenerator. Incase I have SR on my field and my Rapid Spinner is dead, Regenerator mitigates the damage. Taunt is to shut down Deo-D leads from setting up on me.

Behold the thunder god of chaos. This monster has the highest SpA of all Electric types. Thunder is STAB, allowing me to hurt most things that aren't resistant to it. Another one of Mosquiton's suggestion was to replace Volt Switch with Agility. Volt Switch is not always ideal on Thundurus-T due to reason mentioned in the Thundurus-T analysis. Agility allows me to sweep late-game. HP Ice allows me to 2HKO Dragonite through Multiscale and OHKO all other OU Dragons. Grass Knot is to nail Gastrodon and Hippowdon. However, I could use Focus Blast to hit Ferrothorn and Magnezone. Any ideas on which one I should use? I mentioned under Politoed's explanation that Mamoswine is pretty threatening to my team, so I changed the item to Yache Berry, again, as suggested by Mosquiton.

Here's my Spinner, one of the most reliable in OU under the rain. This is because he has an offensive presence as well with his great SpA, as well as decent defenses. Rapid Spin is self explanitory. Hydro Pump serves as his STAB, and I prefer power over accuracy. Ice Beam hits dragons and the grass types. However, Ferrothorn completely walls this set. Thunder hits pretty hard the many Bulky Water types lurking in OU, even the most Specially Defensive of Jellicent, who are 2HKOed.

As suggested by Mosquiton, I have changed Metagross to Bronzong after testing out his changes (don't worry, I tested everyone's changes out but I found his to work the best for me). Stealth Rock is required for almost every team, so it's a given. Gyro Ball allows me to deal with threatening Pokemon such as Terrakion, Kyurem-B, etc. Earthquake handles Jirachi, Heatran, and Magnezone. HP Ice is for Dragons who think they can take me on as well as Landorus. I made him specially defensive so he can tank Hurricanes from Tornadus-T and go for the KO with Gyro Ball.

Thanks to his awesome coverage and offensive stats, he makes a great revenge killer and late-game sweeper. Close Combat and Stone Edge serve as STAB, hitting everything commonly seen in OU super effectively (trivia: the only two Pokemon who resist his STAB are Medicham and Gallade). X-Scissor allows it to damage Psychic types. Rock Slide is for those times I need to reliably take down a Pokemon. EVs maximize his cleaning potential. He is the most dispensable member of my team, so please suggest changes for him.

Conclusion
Here is my team. Please critique it as best as possible. I really want to get better at making Rain Teams. Thanks!

Last edited by azeem40; 4th January 2013 at 6:54 AM.

In order to understand my train of thoughts,
you'll have to put yourself in my position. You can't expect me to think like you because my life ain't like yours; You know what I'm sayin?

Grass Knot doesn't hit Gastrodon very hard actually and Hippowdon is rarely seen anymore so go with Focus Miss. Not really gonna get into rain teams as I've seen too many -.-. Scarf Keldeo for Terrakion? Idk. Seems like a good rain team nonetheless.

Nice Metagross, really like him in OU. Didn't even know it got Pursuit, original way to handle the lati's.

Terrakion Jolly nature, to outspeed max speed modest venusaur in sun by one point and dealing like 60% damage with Stone Edge.

Only 1 eletric hit taker isn't enough. Small prediction it takes to see Thunderus coming into the field. With him gone, electric sweepers pose a major threat. Perhaps you could add a Grass type, like Virizion, instead of Terrakion, as revenge killer. Maybe less powerfull, better synergy and bulk it provides.

Nice team

Goodbye Serebiiforums, I will not visit you anymore. I want to be free~

Scarf Keldeo, Scarf Moltres? If you manage to keep Rocks off, Moltres works extremely well with Tornadus being able to punch holes in other teams opening up the sweep for Tornadus. It also OHKOs Ferrothorn in rain with Fire Blast, not sure if that's with Specs or not however but that's not something many can boast. Then again, some Electric resist is nice. Sigh -.-...

Hm...okay....Jolteon will walk all over half of your team as it stands. (Before someone says something about Thundurus-T, Jolteon carrying Hidden Power ice will do over 60% in one shot ie. is enough for a guarunteed 2HKO, and Thundurus isn't going to OHKO a full Health Jolteon.) Jolteon can simply Volt Switch out on Metagross, and Terrakion is the only thing you have that threatens it, and I am not to sure that HP Ice wouldn't do some nasty damage.....(Goes to run Calcs) LO Jolteon using HP Ice against Terrakion can only 3HKO, althought Thunderbolt will in fact 2HKO you, meaning you can probably kill it, assuming your opponet doesn't see that you are Scarfed. so you can force it out that way. Metagross however, will eat about 50% switching into a LO Thunderbolt, and will be left with about 17% health after a Volt Switch.

Point is, Jolteon walks all over this team.

Also, and opposing Jolly Scarf Terrakion can probably do a number to most of your team as well, with Metagross being your only switch in, the Genies are OHKO by Rock Slide, never mind Stone Edge, your own Terrakion is KOed by Close Combat. Politoed is I think 2HKOed by Close Combat (To lazy to go redo the calc.) Anway, that won't end will for you, since if Terrak gets a clean switch in, you are almost assured to lose something. On that vein, Scarf Keldo will OHKO Metagross, with Hydro Pump, and I am to lazy to redo that for Surf. Thundurus-T is going to die about half the time to Surf, and Torn is 2HKOed. I think you can figure how terrak goes, and even Politoed is 2HKOed by Surf.

In fact, I am going to ammed the above to say that Keldeo and Terrakion just kill your team in general, Scarves or not.

I want to suggest you add a specially defensive Latias somewhere in there, both to counter Sun, and to patch up the Keldeo and Terrakion weaknesses. Looking above you mention Terrak as the most removable....not sure Latias fills the same roles...Hm...Yeah, Latias would should work in that last slot...

Nothing really amazing here. Yeah, you lose the revenge killing potenial of Terrakion, but gain the ability to wall non Band Terrakion, and non Specs Keldeo. Since you outspeed both, assuming a lack of Band and Specs, you can set up a Calm Mind, Recover as needed, and KO with Psyshock. Speaking of which, Psyshock keeps you from being walled by Blissey, and Dragon Pulse is main Damage dealing move. This will sort of help with your Jolteon weakness as well.

Ugh...need to go to sleep.

Take a moment to consider just how nothing nothing really is....If you understand this, then you just solved the universe.

The truth that each person...each soul...is a book. And when we lay our feelings out in the open...and we give them no name...and we give them no author....and we give them no description.....who will actually read them..........?"

Hmm, Idk about losing a revenge killer. I don't want to be stuck late-game without a cleaner. Latias could work in my team, but I think over Thundurus-T, not Terrakion. I need another revenge killer and late-game sweeper to replace Terrakion.

In order to understand my train of thoughts,
you'll have to put yourself in my position. You can't expect me to think like you because my life ain't like yours; You know what I'm sayin?

That would work too, I was simply trying to keep you from losing the electric immunity you have.

Take a moment to consider just how nothing nothing really is....If you understand this, then you just solved the universe.

The truth that each person...each soul...is a book. And when we lay our feelings out in the open...and we give them no name...and we give them no author....and we give them no description.....who will actually read them..........?"

Some other options for revenge killers that resist electric attacks: techniloom, choice scarf nidoking, scarf rotom-c, raikou,scarf landorus (either one).
There`s not much, but I think these are your best bet, together with latios. Most have an ice weakness, though. Then almost your whole team is weak to the boltbeam combo, which isn't something you want either.

well if your making a rain team you should only go with water types because then if you have the move rain it will do masive damage.for example water types usingh water type moves boost the damage and so those rain so have a water pokemon use rain then hydro pump and it will probaly be ohko.and also i recomend not to use legendaries because makes easy to win which is no fun.well only use these 2 legendaries groudon and rayqaza because they are awsome.aggron rules!

well if your making a rain team you should only go with water types because then if you have the move rain it will do masive damage.for example water types usingh water type moves boost the damage and so those rain so have a water pokemon use rain then hydro pump and it will probaly be ohko.and also i recomend not to use legendaries because makes easy to win which is no fun.well only use these 2 legendaries groudon and rayqaza because they are awsome.aggron rules!

This is something that I just noticed. Rocks + Banded terrakion + Rotom-w will rip holes in this team. Terrakion can hit a CC or a Stone edge and hit everything for a good amount of damage. With a little prediction, he will stomp this team. Paired with specially defensive rotom-w to help take on starmie and tornaus-t and you're team may have some problems. I suggest defensive celebi.

well if your making a rain team you should only go with water types because then if you have the move rain it will do masive damage.for example water types usingh water type moves boost the damage and so those rain so have a water pokemon use rain then hydro pump and it will probaly be ohko.and also i recomend not to use legendaries because makes easy to win which is no fun.well only use these 2 legendaries groudon and rayqaza because they are awsome.aggron rules!

This guy will get a defensive boost from fire moves (it's only weakness) due to the rain. STAB Technician Bullet Punch will be doing base 80 damage (base 160 when supper-effective). U-Turn is for scouting (STAB Technician Bug Bite will hit harder than STAB X-Scizzor). Superpower is for hitting other steel-types (which resist both STABs) hard. Pursuit is for hitting the Psychic-types (particularly the Lati twins) and Ghost-types that don't have HP Fire hard when they try to switch out.

You can try that over Terrakion, I think Terrakion is best on a Sun team (water-weakness coverage) instead of a Rain team where it's water-type weakness is a bigger problem since rain teams are fairly (if not very) common.

You can try that over Terrakion, I think Terrakion is best on a Sun team (water-weakness coverage) instead of a Rain team where it's water-type weakness is a bigger problem since rain teams are fairly (if not very) common.

Well, you could go scizor over terrakion, but terrakion helps a ton on rain teams. It beats t-tar, ninetales, and abomasnow so its easier to eliminate other weather setters. It also can check gastrodon well, and is a great wall breaker with CB equipped which I think you should use and add bp on gross. BP on gross and Quick Attack CB terrakion should be good for revenge killing. If you don't like that you could always throw a scarf on thundurus.

Well, you could go scizor over terrakion, but terrakion helps a ton on rain teams. It beats t-tar, ninetales, and abomasnow so its easier to eliminate other weather setters. It also can check gastrodon well, and is a great wall breaker with CB equipped.

Azeem, I second that. That's a solid bit of Advice there. I've seen how much of a god Scizor is on and especially against rain teams.

But the Only change I would advice you to make is to go for a Swords Dance + Life Orb Bulky set. Bullet Punch even with 20% less damage output revenge kills what it needs to in the rain and if you can find an opportunity to Set up, you at least take down half the team. Scizor Appreciates the Rain to negate his Achilles Heel of a fire weakness allowing him to survive and set up on unboosted fire moves and survive the Surprise HP fires. It even OHKOes Ferrothorn, the Lati@s, Terrakion and a whole host of top OU threats.
Plus it will help you in the Rain v/s Rain wars which i guarantee will be half your ladder matches considering how rain is having a great time spoiling all the fun in OU without Genesect to stop them.